QR-linked textbooks expand access but struggle to sustain engagement

As India expanded digital learning through QR-enabled textbooks and online platforms, the shift was seen as a practical way to bridge classrooms and technology at scale. To support this, the DIKSHA platform—launched by the government as a national repository of digital content for teachers and students—hosts QR-linked videos, lessons and training modules.

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This learning initiative integrates digital resources with physical textbooks, creating a “phygital” model of education at scale. Under this effort, over 7,576 energised textbooks—including those from NCERT and various State Boards—are linked to nearly 3.66 lakh digital content pieces such as videos, lessons and assessments. The initiative aims to make curriculum-aligned resources easily accessible to students and teachers across diverse learning environments.

Under this initiative, students, teachers and parents can enrol on DIKSHA to access structured lessons, quizzes, assignments and completion certificates, while registered users are those who have created an account. Across India, nearly 1.11 lakh users are active daily, with total enrolments reaching 18.56 crore and registered users standing at 2.13 crore. The numbers suggest wide access, but limited sustained engagement.

An analysis of usage patterns on the platform shows that while Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat account for the highest number of registered users and enrolments, daily active usage remains relatively low. Among all States and Union Territories, Uttar Pradesh has recorded 11,805 daily active users, with enrolments crossing 5 crore and registered users at 26.39 lakh (as of March 26, 2026).

Among the southern States, Karnataka stands out with 1.04 crore enrolments and 9.52 lakh registered users. Across States, a similar pattern emerges: after peaking around 2020–22, engagement declined sharply in 2023 and has since plateaued.

“Technology took a concrete shape in India’s education system during the pandemic. The sudden spike in usage during 2020 and the following year reflects an ‘emergency response’ to the crisis. It has also shown that the essence of teaching remains in-person, while technology can only supplement it,” says Aishwarya Sharma, Assistant Professor at Manav Rachna University, who has been working in the field of edtech for over a decade..

She attributes early traction in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat to smartphone distribution and stronger teacher training in digital technologies.

The PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024, conducted by NCERT and CBSE, found that 67% of Class 9 students do not have access to a laptop, desktop or tablet at home, highlighting persistent access gaps.

First QR-code-enabled teaching in India

Ranjitsinh Disale—winner of the Global Teacher Prize 2020—pioneered the use of QR-enabled textbooks in Indian classrooms.

He says, “In 2014, I designed those QR-coded textbooks for my Class 4 students. I continued the teaching with those energised textbooks in the following year. And then in 2016, I submitted a proposal to the Government of Maharashtra to use QR-coded textbooks for students across the state. It was rolled out across Maharashtra in 2016, and then in 2019, it was rolled out across India through NCERT books.”

As the model scaled nationally, questions around its design, usage and impact have come into sharper focus.

Assessing India’s QR-based education model

Syaamantak Das, Assistant Professor, Centre for Educational Technology at IIT Bombay, says the model builds on the most accessible classroom resource—the textbook—while adapting to India’s diverse infrastructure.

“This ‘phygital’ model, where physical and digital elements complement each other, is well-aligned with what educational technology research suggests: that effective technology integration works with existing classroom practices rather than demanding a complete overhaul of how teaching and learning happen. DIKSHA’s open-source foundation (Sunbird) further strengthens this approach by allowing states and educational bodies to contribute and customize content for their specific needs,” he says.

Sridhar Chimalakonda, Head of Department of Computer Science and Engineering and Lead in Research in Intelligent Software and Human Analytics Lab in IIT Tirupati, calls it a pragmatic approach. “The blend of physical and digital can potentially support cognitive learning, especially for early learners. With advances in generative AI, there is immense scope to drive personalized learning.”

The factors behind QR-based learning’s scalability

“The scalability of this model rests on several practical strengths. The incremental cost of adding QR codes is minimal. It meets learners where they already are,” says Prof. Das.

He explains that the model leverages textbook distribution, growing smartphone access and DIKSHA’s open architecture, enabling States to localise content and align it with their curricula.

Prof. Chimalakonda says India has made reasonable progress in building scalable edtech systems. “The next step from a software engineering perspective could be a layered architecture, something like a ‘Bharat AI Edu Stack,’ where foundational layers handle content management, localization, and offline access through well-engineered non-AI approaches, while upper layers could leverage AI for personalization. A combination of both approaches may be what India’s scale and diversity requires,” he says.

Ground reality

However, platform-level data does not fully capture classroom realities.

Tamil Nadu introduced energised textbooks in 2018, recording over 2 crore scans initially. It now reports among the lowest usage metrics, besides northeastern states and UTs, on the DIKSHA portal, with 1,264 daily active users, 5.42 lakh registered users and 11.10 lakh enrolments.

A government school teacher in Madurai says, “I have never undergone any formal training to handle digital interventions. I still use the blackboard to teach my students as it is more convenient to complete portions on time. I have to handle various other administrative tasks related to teaching on a daily basis.”

A Class 10 student in Coimbatore says the codes worked well earlier. “They have stopped functioning now,” he adds.

Integrating QR resources into classroom practice

Content quality and teacher preparedness remain key gaps. “Much of the available content is basic and repetitive. We need to evolve, especially in the use of visuals and examples, to better engage students. It is important to update the content regularly,” says Prof. Sharma.

“The potential for integration is significant. The most effective integration happens when digital resources are designed as companions to the teacher’s instructional plan. Resources that actively engage the learner tend to integrate more naturally into classroom pedagogy,” says Prof. Das.

He notes that QR-linked content works best when it supports classroom teaching—through simulations or quick assessments—rather than functioning as standalone material.

“Research, including work at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, shows that interactive and engaging resources are more effective than passive content,” he adds, noting that better design and teacher support are key to impact.

“The QR-linked content model provides a starting point, and there is scope to further strengthen alignment with specific teaching sequences. At our research group at IIT Tirupati, we have built tools like TAnnotator for enriching programming e-textbooks and explored game-based learning approaches like G4D and ML-Quest. From that experience, the key insight is that good interactive design, even without AI, can significantly improve engagement. AI-assisted adaptation could be a useful complement, but well-crafted non-AI interactive elements remain foundational,” says Prof. Chimalakonda.

Does access to digital content improve learning outcomes?

The PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 highlights persistent gaps in foundational skills, wide inter-State variation and declining learning levels in higher classes.

“There is also a lack of granular data—we need insights from students’ experiences to understand what is working and what is not. In my experience, many teachers enrol in courses but are unaware of frameworks like TPACK used in DIKSHA. Without this understanding, improving pedagogy becomes difficult. Certification courses are often completed for formality, with limited value addition. Strengthening teacher training is crucial in the current scenario,” says Prof. Sharma.

“Access to quality digital content is an important foundation. Learning outcomes depend on multiple factors, including content quality, active engagement, feedback, and the teacher’s role. There is an opportunity to enrich the ecosystem with more interactive and formative resources,” says Prof. Das.

He adds that improving outcomes requires more than access, including tools that help learners assess understanding and identify gaps.

Acknowledging access is an important first step, Prof. Chimalakonda says, “The next frontier may be strengthening the link between access and learning outcomes by improving content design with established pedagogical principles, structured interactivity, and meaningful assessments. AI-driven personalization could further add value, but the basics of good educational design arguably need to come first.”

Key challenges in making QR-based learning effective

“In order to make this a sustainable model, we need to answer a key question: what constitutes meaningful learning? While learning outcomes show positive trends, are they sufficient to represent the entire country? We must examine what kind of transformation we are aiming for, how teachers are trained, and the level of access available to students,” she adds.

“As with any large-scale initiative, continued refinement is essential. Expanding content beyond video and text to include interactive and adaptive resources can deepen engagement. Teachers are the most critical variable and robust learning analytics can help understand what is working,” says Prof. Das.

He points to the need for more inclusive, multilingual content and stronger teacher training.

“Building on the foundation that already exists, there is scope to enhance feedback mechanisms and interactivity in QR-linked content. From a software engineering perspective, the system could benefit from better modularity, offline-first design, and robust content pipelines. AI-powered interactivity can complement this foundation, and sustained collaboration between technologists, educators, and policymakers could help take these systems to the next level,” says Prof. Chimalakonda.

For now, the QR code remains a bridge—one that depends on how effectively it is used inside classrooms.